1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to an exercise apparatus using hand-held weights and, more particularly, to an adjustable hand-held exercise weight with pulse detection and remote infrared control.
2. Description of the Background
The hand-held weight has become a staple in the exercise routines of many who engage in jogging or treadmill exercise. However, such hand-held weights can normally be purchased only in certain discrete weight increments, forcing a user to incur great cost to obtain a set of hand-held weights adequate to serve in a varied workout regimen. The few hand-held weights which do allow for weight adjustment are often cumbersome due to their adjustability, limited in their allowance for adjustments, or unreliable in their ability to safely retain the weights placed within them.
It is desirable for a user to track the effects on the body of different exercises in a workout routine. The heartbeat of the user is an excellent gauge of these effects. Users currently must have additional equipment beyond the hand-held exercise weight to monitor heartbeat. This additional equipment may include wires which can become entangled with the user's body during exercise, or separate button-operated equipment which requires the user to move his or her hand or other body part away from a position optimum for the then-current exercise.
It is also desirable for a user to be able to control other equipment used during a workout involving a hand-held exercise weight, such as a treadmill or an entertainment device, without stopping the use of the hand-held exercise weight. Where the use of the hand-held exercise weight must be stopped in order to free the hand of the user to adjust other equipment, valuable exercise time is lost.
Therefore, the need exists for a system which does not require equipment in addition to a hand-held exercise weight to monitor heartbeat information, and which facilitates control over other equipment used during exercising.